Customer Reviews

Final Fantasy XI Online: The Vana'diel Collection 2008

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've started my third year playing this game after a six month break and am now enjoying it more than ever. This is a game that requires a lot of time for everything. Time to go from place to place, time to level up your jobs (I don't say character because you play any job you want to and switch from job to job without making a new character). It also takes a lot of time to make money and there are many ways to make money in the game it just requires ALOT of patience.

Getting started in this game can be very difficult and frustrating at times but if you talk to people most of them will help you out and guide you to where you need to get to. The game starts you out with you choosing the race you want to play as throught the game. The races you get to choose from are Hume's (male or female), Elvaan's (male or female), Mithra's (female only), Galka's (male only) and the Tarutaru's (male and female). Although there aren't a lot of different races there are many different combinations you can make for each character so running into a similiar character isn't so frequent. This is also where you will pick your main job and there are six jobs to choose from when you first start. After that you choose which country your character lives/comes from and there are three to choose from. The three countries are Bastok, Windurst and Sandoria. Bastok is made up of the Hume's and Galka's, Windy has the Mithra's and Tarutaru's and Sandy is home of the elvaans but you can choose whichever one you want.

Races: Depending on what job you want to do might help you choose the race you want to play as each race is proficient in certain jobs. The Galka's are made for jobs such as Paladin and Warrior classes (tanks jobs in pt's), Elvaan's are geared towards Monk and Dark Knight (Damage Dealer's in pts or DD's if you will), Mithra's are for the Thief and Ranger jobs (support or pullers for ur party), Hume's are the basic all around character and are proficient in any job but don't specialize in a paraticular one and Tarutaru's are the magic wielding jobs such as the White Mage and Black Mage jobs (healer's and debuffs in the party). However, you can pick whatever race you want and whatever job you want just remember that Galka's are not gonna be as good as Tarutaru's in magic and Tarutaru's aren't gonna be as good as Galka's for tanking.

Jobs: The player is given six jobs to choose from called your basic jobs. They are warrior, thief, monk, white mage, black mage and red mage. I'm not gonna go into details because that could take to long. There are 14 other jobs available once the player reaches 30. The player has to do quests to unlock the other jobs and can find out how to by asking someone or just looking it up online. The other jobs are ranger, dark knight, paladin, blue mage, samurai, ninja, corsair, bard, beastmaster, puppetmaster, summoner, scholar, dancer and dragoon. Also for jobs you get to have a subjob which means you have a main job and a job to support it. For instance, say the player is a paladin, the player then gets to choose a job to support that. The player will want to choose a subjob that will support the main job, so that player will most likely choose warrior for the defense bonuses and job abilities that warrior has. Also the subjob is half the level of the main job so if the paladin is lvl 30 the warrior will be lvl 15 with all the abilites the warrior gets at 15. Also by adding warrior as a subjob extra hit points are added onto you're character because of the job warrior. Each subjob presents its own pros and cons, so the player needs to know what subjob best supports the main job.

The storyline progresses at the players leisure and since there are tons of quests and missions that the player will be doing its easy to forget what you've done unless you're progressing really fast which is highly unlikely. Doing missions earns your rank in your home country and quests earn you fame in different countries which definately benefit the player. One example is the "Lure of the Wildcat" quest in each town (Sandy, Basty, Windy and Jeuno) when completed gives the player to get teleported to Aht Urghan Whitegate from whatever town they teleported from which will save a lot of time and only costs 300 gil per teleport.

The game is definitely geared for the hardcore people who can spend a lot of time in the game. This is definitely a game where you reap what you sew. If the player just wants to casually play the game and just party and level and talk to friends they can. The thing is that by playing casually the player will most likely not get the really best gear in the game and around level 50 will either start another job or just slowly stop playing the game. The game requires a lot of time, gil and patience for the good armor and weapons in the game if the player is willing to sacrifice it.

This particular edition of final fantasy xi combines the original release plus all the expansions up to the latest wings of the goddess. Each expansion has added new jobs, areas to explore and more missions and quests. I'm not sure what all was added with the first three expansions to the game (rise of zilart, chains of promethia, treasures of aht urghan) as I did not start playing this game till well after the release of TOAU. I do know, however, the Wings of the Goddess expansion released two new jobs: Dancer and Scholar. It also let the player travel to the past (20 years to be exact) through things called Cavernous Maws. WOTG expansion is aimed at the higher level players and I suggest not traveling to the past unless you are 60+ or have someone that can guide you.

I found this final fantasy XI a really good buy when it first came out and now that its twenty dollars its well worth the buy. I've heard people complain about the monthly charge of the game on top of the xbl charge. *For your information:you can play this game on the xbl silver account.* Thing is that most people don't just play this game, they play others as well on xbl and the monthly fee is from the maker's of the game. Alot of mmorpg's have a monthly charge and this one is no different. The updates and installing can take a really long time, maybe to long but you really shouldn't let that deter you from at least trying this game out.

There is so much more to this game and is hard to put in a review, I really don't think its possible to review even half of what this game has to offer someone who really is interested in playing. The only areas that I can think of where this game suffers is the exceptionally hard to make money or gil for weapons and gear and the long installing process and the sometimes very long updates.

All I can really tell you is try the game out and decide for yourself whether or not its a game you want to put a lot of time into. Just remember if you get stuck there are people you can ask to help you out and most of them will be more than happy to. Don't be quick to judge the game from just the beginning, it takes awhile to really get into the heart of the game itself so get out there try it and keep at it.

I played this game for quite a while a few years back, and though it may be hard for new players to find their spot in the game, i cant deny that this game is one of the best MMORPGs ive ever played. The player can get immersed in this game to a level unlike other games. The Final Fantasy world provides YEARS (not even exageratting) of exploration.
though the leveling system may be very slow moving, the grind is worth it. id recommend this game to anyone. If you buy it, my name is Shalafayne, and id be glad to help you start the game, and link you with a good set of friends, as this is what can make or break the game for you. Buy it!

A very good MMORPG in my own opinion. A little more complex than World Of Warcraft. But very enjoyable with some good friends.

I know this game can't compete with the WOW or GW crowd so i'm not even going to try. FFXI has no real PVP and it forces you to make friends! Say it ain't so! Yes ladies you might actually have to be nice to other people if you want to play this game and yes it's kinda hard to brag about how good you are in a game that is slow-moving and isn't great on the customizablilty. And yes the previous statements were sarcastic.
For the most part everyone is on the same side and working towards a common goal. It's a beautiful game though. The interface is a little old fashion, but I didn't mind that. This game actually makes you think about strategy, but isn't so hard that the more attention-deficient players lose interest after one wipe.
Another plus, your character can actually be any class (I think there's like 15 of them) it wants to be and there's a wide array of skills and tactics at your disposal that makes every party to enter into relatively unique.
Another aspect I found really enjoyable, but sometimes a hinderance is the fact that you can play with other players that don't speak English! How is this a good thing?! Well, there's this thing called a planet and on this planet there's these things called human beings and to make a longer story short the foreign players tend to be pretty freaking good and it's fun to play with them even if you can understand a word they're saying.
All in all, I subtracted a star because the game's a little dated and sort of discriminates against people with few social skills.
If you can't compete against other people to save your life, but still like to make friends and enjoy an MMO with a well developed storyline, world and battle system, then you'll love this game.

Final Fantasy XI is very entertaining, seeing you play with other players in real time. It is both challenging and fun!

First off I want to say that this review is intended for those that are currently WoW players that may be looking for another game to try and/or compare to WoW. As a former WoW player, I tried out and have stuck to FFXI instead of WoW because of one particular thing.......WoW is one of the most broken games I have ever played (in my personal opinion) and I've been a video gamer for over 15 years. Before I explain my opinion about WoW, I want to compare the two games by how they play.

FFXI: FFXI is not an easy game. It is truly meant for more hardcore gamers due to the enormous amount of time needed to advance in the game as well as the pretty much colossal initial difficulty level. However, the replay value for the game as well as the overall experience and immersion that players feel from the game is much much more than WoW can ever offer. For one, you have over 20 jobs (classes in WoW terms) to choose from while playing despite having only 6 available when you first play the game. Also, you can have two jobs at once!!!! Meaning that you can have one primary job and a secondary job though secondary jobs are only half the level of your primary job. Want to be a red mage that can heal like a white mage? Go for it! Want to be a dancer that can deal black magic? No problem! Also, once you level up a certain job to the max, the game isn't over for you, you can switch out jobs and start from scratch while still keeping all your treasures and experience from your maxed out job (unlike WoW where once you hit the level cap, you have to create an entirely new character)! I believe this is what has kept so many players engaging themselves in FFXI for more than 7 years and running! Also, it's an MMORPG that has a story (exactly what the series is known for!). The story may not seem very prevalent at the beginning of the game, but as you progress through the game you'll be teased with information that makes you crave to keep playing to find out more! Also, this game sucks the life out of you, it is not meant to be played in mere 30 min segments, you will never get anywhere in the game if you try to play this way. Some gamers may hate it but honestly I think that makes the game even more special. You personally know how much time and effort you've put into the game and when you grind all the way up through the ranks and levels in order to kill a great dungeon boss in order to acquire a certain weapon or even a new summon to call at your will, you feel a sense of pride and accomplishment, that's what I expect from a game from being a hardcore player. There are only 3 things that I think hold the game from being perfect: 1) The initial difficulty is disgusting hard, unless you have an online or paper guide or someone to hold your hand through the beginning of the game, you'll be truly overwhelmed of what to do, which is why the game is more focused towards the hardcore players. 2)Managing your "buddy" or "friend" list is much more difficult that it needs to be, 3) The process of actually logging into the game before even playing it and having to log out instead of simply turning off your system to avoid possibly losign your data is kind of ridiculous and more tedious that it needs to be. Overall I think that the game is great and I intend to keep playing it until the day it is shut down (which I don't see happening for at least 3 more years).

WoW: First off, WoW is meant for casual gamers. WoW was designed for anyone who has less than an hour to play to run a simple quest or simply to chat with friends and have a fun simple time. If you're a casual gamer and don't have alot of time to invest in a game, by all means play WoW because you'll love it. Back to my point earlier about why I say that WoW is so broken...this game is all about collecting gear....that's it! For anyone else who thinks something different, shut up you're wrong! FFXI has a story to invest in and discover, weapons and treasure to discover, chocobos to raise, sights to see, summons to defeat, dungeons to conquer, missions to complete, and quests for enforcing your conquest toward your nation's domination. WoW.....is all about collecting items. There's supposedly a story in it but I never found it (how does Warcraft III which had a great story...try to be an MMO that keeps the same universe....but doesn't bring a great story?!?!?!). All WoW is about is conquering a dungeon, getting epic gear, showing it off to others, planning on getting even better gear and selling off whatever you don't need on the auction house in between chatting with your friends and occasionally playing battlegrounds (PvP). WoW is nothing more than a c*@k fest for gear, that's it. If you're the type of person that is all about finding loot and trying to get even more and better loot, play WoW. You were meant to be with it. As for me, I expect more from a game that I am going to invest in playing let alone pay a montly subscription for.

In conclusion, FFXI is a great game in so many ways I encourage people to at least try the 14-day trial from Square Enix. If you don't like it, I thank you for at least trying, if you do end up liking it, I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do!!!

FFXI is a great game, so much so I haven't thought of getting any up comming games, or playing any of my current games. FFXI still has people in it. The server I'm in, carbuncle, has at least 1k people online. If you want to check out the basics of the game, be sure to check out [...]

I absolutely love this on-line game and it is great for my stress relief as well. Graphics and sound quality are great and overall game-play is awesome. This purchase was well worth what I spent on it.

Final Fantasy XI is Square Enix's first major foray into the MMORPG market. And, just as you would expect with most Final Fantasy games, its pretty fun and pretty challenging. The gameplay is addictive, and being able to work with other players, friend or foe, just makes the experience better. As well, the Xbox 360 version does not require a Gold membership, but even if you do, you still must pay SE $12.99 (I think) a month. Its not a bad price at all, and you can add additional characters for $2 more.

PlayOnline is the "billing" service, as I call it. Its meant to be more like Xbox Live, but, since there's only 2 games so far that take advantage of it, there's not much more to it. It does come with a friend list and friend chat, opting to use its own lists vs. Live's, and it does offer a full fledged e-mail service, though it only supports plain text. Navigating the software is easy, you can use the D-Pad to select in a menu sort of way, or, use the analog stick to control the Chocobo cursor (Like the mouse in Windows).

Along with the software, the PS2 and Windows versions allow you to play a standalone version of Tetra Master, the card game from FFXI. I can't really review it, since it is not supported on 360 yet, but it does look fun.

The pain is getting to actually play the game. When Microsoft released the New Xbox Experience, many people began experiencing problems getting PlayOnline to load. SE even acknowledges this fact by stating that the problem is caused when you use the Xbox Guide to exit the game, rather, you should use the PlayOnline Viewer's Exit option. If you don't do it correctly, POV refuses to load, and in order to play FFXI, you need to be able to launch the Viewer. The NXE has been out for over a year now, and there's still no fix, and its pretty bad when it takes me 5 days to get the disc to even read, when I NEVER played the game on my Xbox before. As well, to install POV, FFXI, and all the updates, it takes up to 10-16 GB of HDD space, and a few hours total, what's worse is that when you want to install FFXI, it forces you to watch a video before install starts.

As I said, the game is very enjoyable, and its easily worth the money. The PlayOnline Viewer needs to be fixed and updated, and needs more games on it, its becoming a bit outdated, and many people feel that its time to move on. If you have the chance, and a PS2, PC, or Xbox, get this game, you'll like it.

Well this game is not what i would call exactly an easy game. It is chalked full of missions quests enemies to kill and general wonders. The game is beautifully detailed and some of the hard to reach area's are a visual wonder. As an mmorpg ffxi gives you basically a open world to explore with probably over 100 maps that are richly detailed and time consuming to explore. This game can easily take away countless hours of your time without you knowing the time past.

Gameplay

Gameplay is based on cooperation. It is very rare that an individual can go out on their own and complete tasks. Most of the game requires a minimum of another person or a group of 6-18 ppl to complete. As the game progresses and you get further along in xp and lvls the high end tasks require multiple uninterrupted hours with 12 or more members. Usually the rewards are totally random and you are not garanteed anything. Most of the high end items drop maybe once and everyone there wants it so its a toss up on who gets the item which usually is rewarded to the person that plays the game the most and helps out the most. If you are a person with limited time to play its hard to get rewarded correctly.

Controls

On the xbox i would not recommend playing this game without a usb keyboard. Tried it once and it was horrible trying to type without it. Once you have a keyboard the game plays well and is perfectly detailed. Without a keyboard you will be completely miserable so dont do it to yourself.

Graphics

Simply stunning! You see the sun rise and set. The moon rise and set. Ocean waves crash at your feet as you run in the sand. Ghosts haunt you in mines. Tornados touch down in the deserts. Lightning strikes in the backround. You get the idea.

Replayablility

Its end game there is always something to do. Many hours can be spent just doing one thing. You will spend hundreds of hours getting one character to max level with full caped xp traits.

Price

12.95 a month with an extra 1 per character you make past the main.

Value

Once you dish out the money for the game and pay for the keyboard its still below an average xbox game. It pays for itself over time. If you play it a lot and dont mind the monthly fee then it can keep ya home instead of going to the movies etc.

True to past ff games

Yes and no! It has the ffxi feel with jobs you can play like blackmage whitemage Warrior. It makes you feel that you must work as a team like true ff games. Missions are very in depth and have a long backstory. It falls behind on some things like summoning. The pets are while pretty not as we have seen in the past. Weaponskills or limit breaks are pretty eh. Most of the time you wont realize you activated a weaponskill they are that unnoticable. Limit breaks or 2 hours are what they are called do exactly what they say. Take 2 hours to get a new one. Each job has a different 2 hour some are ok like redmage gets chainspell which allows it to cast spells over and over again with no cool off time or casting time. Some are terrible where for example samurai gets to do 3 weaponskills at a time instead of one.

Anyway i give this game a 4/5 for fun because when you first start there is nothing like it the game is just amazing. The point off is for it limiting you to have to party.

Overall i give it a 3 since it is a bit old you have to pay for it a month and it gets really tiresome doing the 3-4 hour events on a regular basis.